Africa-Press – Namibia. OWING to high demand and dwindled supply, fuel prices have gone up internationally and have caused a ripple effect in Namibia. This means motorists will have to dig a little deeper for fuel, with the Ministry of Mines and Energy today announcing that fuel prices will increase slightly in the month of October by 30 cents per litre.
The increase on fuel pump prices by 30 c/l on both petrol and diesel will start effective from 6 October 2021. The petrol pump prices in Walvis will become N$14.45 c/l and diesel prices will become N$14.18 c/l.
Fuel pump prices countrywide will be adjusted accordingly. Andreas Simon, Spokesperson of the mines and energy ministry, stated that the increase in fuel prices was necessitated by a number of factors.
“The increase in prices can be attributed to a series of events, first of which was a hurricane storm in the Gulf of Mexico, then uncertainties around the outcome of OPEC-plus meetings, and lastly the looming global energy crunch as China continues to grapple with energy supplies, as well as some countries in Europe, international prices for refined petroleum products have been fluctuating significantly during the period under review,” Simon explained.
He further added that the hurricane storm in the Gulf of Mexico has disrupted supply by damaging some of the oil facilities in that region. “Moreover, OPEC-plus is still struggling to ramp up oil supply to agreed levels so as to match demand as the global market emerges from the Covid pandemic. This has left a shortage of supply in the market and increased the oil prices as result,” he said.
During the period under review, the local currency has appreciated against the US dollar from an average of N$14.77 in August to an average of N$14.42 in September 2021. This has helped keep the recorded under-recoveries lower than they would have been if it remained the same.
